Bangladesh offers reward for top militants

DhAKA: Bangladesh police offered a reward for two top militants accused of spearheading the rise of extremism in the country, which is reeling from a mass killing at a Dhaka cafe.

Police announced a two million taka (RM100,700) reward for information leading to the arrest of Canadian citizen Tamim Chowdhury, who disappeared after allegedly masterminding the cafe attack.

Chowdhury is accused of heading a faction of the Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militant group, blamed for scores of murders of members of religious minorities.

Police are also searching for sacked army major Syed Mohammad Ziaul Haq and offering a similar reward. He is accused of heading a second religious extremist militant group, Ansar al Islam, suspected of killing a series of secular bloggers and activists.

“We are trying to arrest them. We believe if they are brought to justice .... we can eliminate extremism from the country,” national police chief A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque said.

Authorities are under great pressure to crack down on extremism in Muslim-majority Bangladesh after a recent increase in gruesome attacks.

Five gunmen stormed an upscale cafe in the capital on July 1. They killed 20 mainly foreign hostages and two police officers in Bangladesh’s deadliest single militant attack of recent years.

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the cafe siege, releasing images of the carnage and a photo of the attackers posing with its black flag.

Hoque reiterated that police have no evidence of IS involvement, saying “these are homegrown extremists. They are mainly JMB members” although they sympathised with the militant group.

Hoque said 30-year-old Chowdhury, who was born in Bangladesh, planned the attack on the cafe after returning from living in Canada in 2013.